The World A.T. Ways

In which we traverse uncharted territories: hic sunt mobiles?

Barbara Lindsey — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:54:53 +0000

For many of us, these past few weeks marked the beginning of a new academic year. As students returned to campus they brought with them their mobile phones, those ever-present, always-on devices that have become the bane of many an instructor. A few of our faculty, not unlike elsewhere, have suggested an outright ban on [...]

cAsTa Ways: An Interview with Jon Pennington

Barbara Lindsey — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 04:17:50 +0000

Once again Twitter worked its networking magic and led us to Jon Pennington, who is a high school teacher of Spanish at Hunterdon Central High School in New Jersey as well as an adjunct professor of Spanish at the College of New Jersey. What caught our attention and led to this interview is Jon’s Spanish Connects [...]

In which 10 Twitter applications might change your global mind and possibly your language classroom

Kevin Gaugler — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:46:12 +0000

In spite of all the talk about Twitter in connection with the Iranian elections and all things international as of late, I doubt that many of my university colleagues will be including Twitter on a syllabus this fall. I’ve talked before about the “Twitter Cycle” or the fact that, at first glance, Twitter appears trivial, and even, [...]

In which the next wave in language education might be Wave; 5 reasons for and 1 against

Kevin Gaugler — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:46:51 +0000

I just finished watching the 1 hour and 20 minute demo of Google’s new product, WAVE, to be released to the general public later this year. What might speak volumes about the product is that the video held my attention for that long. The Google team that developed this application set out to move organizational communication beyond [...]

cAsTa Ways: An Interview with Enza Antenos-Conforti

Barbara Lindsey — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:32:26 +0000

On the Friday leading into the Memorial Weekend here in the U.S., Kevin and I had the pleasure of speaking with Enza Antenos-Conforti, a professor of Italian at Montclair State University in New Jersey. You’ll notice some issues with the recording in a few sections, but we hope they won’t detract from the quality of [...]

In which community improves practice

Barbara Lindsey — Mon, 04 May 2009 12:13:47 +0000

It’s been almost a month now since my son, Benjamin, received word from the Office of the Consulate General of Japan in Boston that he has been selected to serve as an Assistant Language Teacher in the Japanese Exchange and Teaching Program for next year. As those of us who have been fortunate enough to [...]

In which Google gives our students voice in at least 10 ways

Kevin Gaugler — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:23:33 +0000

In a previous post post I wrote about how GrandCentral had much of the functionality of a $100,000 audio-lingual laboratory for about $100,000 less, making the audio-lingual method sexy again. Well, GrandCentral is now officially the super-sexy Google Voice. and after having the chance to play with the service for a few weeks, I’d like to [...]

In which it’s the end of the slide as we know it…

Kevin Gaugler — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:13:16 +0000

Uploaded to Flickr on October 30, 2006 by Editor B In a previous post, I talked about my deep issues with PowerPoint, since it encourages “talking head” lectures from the podium. I also revealed my hope for a future that promises more creative ways of narrating one’s story and that allows for more interaction between presenter [...]

In which the whole world is all atwitter

Barbara Lindsey — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:40:09 +0000

I spent November 5th, election night in the United States, with about a thousand people. I wasn’t downtown in some large convention hall with a group of my friends. In fact, I had never met any of these folks before that night. They hailed from all over the world and the one thing that connected [...]

cAsTa Ways: An Interview with Silvia Tolisano

Barbara Lindsey — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:49:27 +0000

After a long hiatus we’ve started up our podcasts again by recording a fascinating conversation with Silvia Tolisano, a former Spanish and German teacher, who now supports the global studies curriculum of San Jose Episcopal Day School as their technology integration specialist. Her blog, Langwitches: The Magic of Learning through Technology received two 2008 Edublogger [...]